DirecTV's Plans for 2006/2007

[Scott Greczkowski]

DirecTV has laid out their plans for 2006/2007 in the following PDF file. Some interesting things coming down the line including a new Broadband DirecTV service.

Happy Reading!

Scott because I had some problems downloading this file using Mozilla and I can imagine dialup users are also having a nightmare I'm going to add another link to download this file from.

http://www.longhornxp.net/directvnews.pdf

 

[gene1138]

Interesting to see they are still talking about the HDTV Media Center and the second generation Ka-Ku dish looks nice.

 

[cforrest]

Love the look of that second generation Ka-Ku dish as well. According to the projections D* has, national HD capacity soars in 07 with the launch of D*10 and D*11. Good info in that pdf, thanks Scott!

 

[rad]

Thanks for the post Scott.

Looking at the chart for HD channel expansion, I can't tell if it's just due to the scanning of the presentation but are there a couple of very slight up blips before D10 is launched?

Also, do you have any further info about the single wire technology mentioned? One page mentions available late 2005, is it similar to E*'s DPP switch where dual tuner DVR's need only one coax from the switch?

 

[BFG]

Wow D* has 1M people watching their "HD"

 

[JPShinn]

Any sense of when the slimline dish will be available?

 

[Brewer4]

Nice read. I cant wait till the Media Center direct capture. I have a MCE 2005 with 2 XBox 360's. The only thing missing is direct HD capture of non-local stuff (HBO, ESPNHD, HDNet, etc.). The OTA HD stuff is great and I love the XBox extender stuff. I am sure we will be forced to buy the commercial Media Centers. My question, can I add drives and my OTA capture cards? Will there be some flexibility in the Directv capable Media Centers?

 

[Digital Dude]

Notice page 44 "Proactive monitoring of user experience"..... big brother is watching!

Page 77, huge increase in offshore call centers. We all know how well customers react to "Birdie num num" experiences. And they think customer satisfaction will go up???

Pages 80-81, HSP installs skyrocket and labor costs drop precipitously, most early churn is due to poor sale/install experience. Translation, install techs will make slightly more than minimum wage and, again, this is supposed to translate into higher customer satisfaction? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Pg 94- Again mentions improved Installation/Customer service. Can anyone mention a single example of a company whose customer service scores improved by outsourcing to non-native english speaking SCR's that don't have the ability to have the service? By paying techs at such a low rate as to not be able to support a family do they really believe install quality will go up? Their Tech turnover rates are going to skyrocket.

The smaller dish is cool though.

 

[Proc]

Thanks for sharing this info, Scott.

Some things that got my interest:

--Smaller Ka/Ku dish.

I am thinking I should hold off on putting the AT9 in and wait for the smaller dish. Is there any reason (I get my locals OTA here in Detroit fine) to put up the current 5LNB dish now? I wonder when this slim line dish will be out...???

--Interactive Receivers

I know some of the receivers are interactive on the mix channels now, so its nice to see they will all be at some point. I was wondering about the slide (on page 32 of the PDF file) that shows, what appears to be local weather? The lack of local weather has always been an issue. It would be nice to have an interactive, localized weather source.

Did I say the smaller dish? ;-)

Looking at the dish in the picture, is it truly a 5LNB or is that housing just a new 3LNB for use with 99/101/103 only???

 

[boston area dtv]

Now that is great information! As a D* sub I at least now have a better understanding of what should be coming around the corner.

Now I have to temper my excitement towards the release of the HMC and the two sats going up in 07..(while I knew they were both coming..its nice that D* acknowledges) with the upcoming birth of our first child. See if I get all giddy about the HMC and the with the HD capacity D* will have in the future, I better have this same smile all the time when talking about the baby or Im a dead man!

 

[Smthkd]

Thanks for sharing this info, Scott.

Some things that got my interest:

--Smaller Ka/Ku dish.

I am thinking I should hold off on putting the AT9 in and wait for the smaller dish. Is there any reason (I get my locals OTA here in Detroit fine) to put up the current 5LNB dish now? I wonder when this slim line dish will be out...???

--Interactive Receivers

I know some of the receivers are interactive on the mix channels now, so its nice to see they will all be at some point. I was wondering about the slide (on page 32 of the PDF file) that shows, what appears to be local weather? The lack of local weather has always been an issue. It would be nice to have an interactive, localized weather source.

Did I say the smaller dish? ;-)

Looking at the dish in the picture, is it truly a 5LNB or is that housing just a new 3LNB for use with 99/101/103 only???

I kinda like my AT9 dish! It makes others with D* in my neighborhood think I have something bigger and better than them!

 

[ralphfurley]

I Demand On Demand

Love the VOD stuff...wish we had that now. But I would settle for being able to see "MyVOD" when I push "LIST"....

 

[JamesJ]

after looking at that, I am wondering if their comparison is true about D* having capacity for 150 national HD channels and E* only about 100-110 ( I know there arent that many HD channels) I wonder if there doing that to maybe just make themselves look better when they both will have the same capacity or what! just a thought

 

[Brewer4]

The way I look at the 150 national HD channels is thats enough. I know I know you can never have enough but I cant watch more than 10-15 channels including niche/sport ones. I used to think more is better but I am starting to believe just enough more with better quality is better. I would be happy with pure HD and 50 national with HD lcoals. That would make me happy.

 

[sltmag]

I'm with Brewer on this. HD aside, there are only a few other channels I watch that would interest me. Then again, I may find myself watching channels I usually don't if there is more HD.

 

[Baldone]

Have you seen the news release by D*, YES and MLB? I just posted this in the D* HD forum:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=491808#post491808

 

[FlyingJ]

I can't open the file...and I have no idea why! Any other place to see it?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Get the latest version of the Adobe Reader.

 

[FlyingJ]

Thanks Scott! I assumed i had it but apparently I didn't

 

[dragon002]

well my oh my,

i was just told yesterday that i was dreaming of a smaller dish.......and that i didnt know what i was talking about.

looks like some other posters will be eating crow.